Wednesday, January 25. 2006

Well, the ladies are back! Season 3 of the L Word started up again a few weeks ago. Yes, the Los Angelino lesbian women are back to rock our Sunday nights. Or will they?

It's true that it's hard to beat the sexiness of a scene between love interests Carmen & Shane, but should the only lesbian-centered television show survive based on viewers' voyeurism? Is the sex life of gorgeous women the best way we have to portray a lesbian lifestyle?

This season the show offers a new character - Moira. I suppose that she came up as a response to all those fans who were complaining that this show was only about femme lesbians. So, of course, now we have the stereotypical butch from small town USA, walking around with her hands in her pockets, driving her pick-up truck, and unable to engage in superficial conversations at a fancy restaurant in LA because she feels "out of place."

Will I keep watching? Of course! What better way to combat those Sunday night blues? Will I ever feel identified with what goes on in the show? Well, probably not until they bring in some characters that actually have to work for a living, don't have time to sip coffee all day, and maybe even sometimes, have a bad hair day.

one thing interessado about the pretensious restaurant scene showcasing the L word gals' insensitivity to moira's feelings of alienation and less-than-ness is the glamorization in this episode of shane and carmen. carmen, the ever-popular DJ BECAUSE she's NOT a diva, because she sports cargo pants and an easy-going smile and temperment. these attributes were key to winning the foster-reared, shruggingly honest shane in the first place.

something was lost for me in the heavy-handed, black/white writing of this scene by way of character continuity. shane and carmen can't necessarily afford such a posh meal. though not in the same way as moira, at the table shane and carmen are fish out of water (and so is jenny--they're perceivably in different tax brackets than alice, bette, tina, laura and dana). and sure, it's important to address (i assume you correctly pegged what is) viewers' antagonism at the cast's feminization: enter grassroots moira.

but let's consider the reality of TV: everyone, even manly sportscasters (which i remind my proud-to-be-a-redneck bro all the time, to his chagrin) sport makeup. straight actors are then metro, lesbian characters appear femme. what little makeup moira has on ("it takes a lot to look natural," my high school econ teacher'd say) of course makes her look wilder (as in child of the wilderness, bewildered wild) than racoon-eyed shane or anyone else onscreen. that's the nature of TV as anti-reality.

would shane circle on the verdigris in real life? silly question, given she's a character on showtime. but the viewer must make that magical jump between how a character should/does breathe and live, and what shape said character takes visually.

shane's written as the hearthrob: the show's stylist insists eyeliner will make this believable. would shane get up everyday and painstakingly line her eyes? highly doubtful, considering she can barely make it home before sun up.

makeup feminizes. but there's much more to femmedom than makeup. not all the characters on the L Word are femme.

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